Enlise's Nightmare

As the Workshop's customers grew excited over the newly added game Live Stream and real-time Leaderboard, Angell finally got the chance to sleep soundly. Afterward, he took another Crystal Screen from the warehouse and hung it above the counter, where everyone could see it before the shop opened. With magic, he displayed a number on it:

Fifteen days.

"What is that number?" Enlise asked curiously as she swept the hall.

"The countdown until the Game Table testing period ends."

"Huh? The testing period ends in fifteen days?" Enlise was startled.

"I don't want it to end so quickly either, but the Leaderboard has stirred up the customers' emotions. If we don't give them a deadline to vent them by, things will get troublesome afterward." Angell looked as though he had a toothache. "Besides, it gives them a scheduled answer regarding the Orders."

Although Enlise did not understand, she still carefully remembered it. She felt that everything Mr. Angell said made sense.

Mithril objected, "Orders? Didn't you say you weren't selling the Game Tables?"

"That's why I said 'give them an answer.'" Angell sprawled limply across the table. "No matter what, we can't offend customers who want to buy. We need to find a win-win solution."

"Because Mr. Angell's promotional strategy has been so successful!" Enlise reported. "After the Leaderboard appeared, even more customers wanted to buy Game Tables. Some even want to buy Magic Projectors along with them!"

"People even want to buy Magic Projectors?" Mithril's tail shot upright.

Those backlogged goods in the warehouse had always been a thorn in its side. Now that it heard someone actually wanted to buy them, the entire cat was moved.

For the first time, Mithril proactively rubbed its warm fur against Angell's face and said in a sugary customer-service voice, "Does this mean we can finally clear out that batch of projectors? Angell, it was truly wonderful that you became my master!"

What a shameless fake cat.

Angell plucked Mithril off his face and poured cold water over it without mercy. "Don't celebrate too early. The Magic Projectors' energy consumption issue hasn't been fundamentally resolved. Advertising alone won't make them affordable for ordinary users."

"But we can sell them to users who don't care about that first!" Mithril said.

"Not worth it." Angell pushed Mithril away.

"Hmph, meow! This can't be sold, that can't be sold—do you even want to do business, meow?!"

Mithril slapped the counter with its tail in protest.

Angell did not want to continue the subject. He turned serious. "More importantly, while the customers are obsessed with climbing the Leaderboard, we can solve the problems the Workshop has accumulated."

Upon hearing business, both Mithril and Enlise grew serious.

Angell asked Mithril, "How much money do we have now?"

As the Workshop Master's assistant, Mithril also handled the finances.

It immediately gave him the figures. "This month, we made a profit of 97 gold, 59 silver, and 868 cent. Accounting for losses caused by the insufficient number of Game Tables at the beginning, I estimate we can guarantee a monthly profit of around 140 gold."

Enlise, who had been listening, drew in a small breath.

For a little girl like her, that was undoubtedly a huge fortune.

But Angell calculated it in his head.

He had paid off 300,000 gold in debts for this Workshop. In other words, at this rate, it would take him another 2,143 months to earn back his capital. Converted into years, that was 179 years—and that did not even include the money he would need to renovate the Workshop later.

...So when you were poor, it was better not to do the math.

It ruined your mood.

Angell sighed inwardly and held out his hand to Mithril. "Then give me 90 gold first."

"Are you a robber? You're asking for that much right away!" Mithril cried.

Angell ignored it and directly removed the Golden Bell from around Mithril's neck.

It was a Magic Item that could store unlimited money. Only Mithril and the Workshop's current master could use it.

Angell withdrew enough money from it and transferred it into his Magic Space.

"This is a necessary expense," Angell said.

Yet he did not explain what he intended to do with the money. He merely stood up, left the counter, and walked over to Enlise. "Aren't you going to school today?"

"No, no need. Today is Sunday," Enlise answered hurriedly. "There's no school."

Angell nodded and took the Broom from Enlise's hands.

Honestly, making such a small child clean such a large shop made his conscience hurt too.

"Then come out with me," Angell said.

"Out?"

Enlise's confusion was mixed with unease.

It was instinctive.

Although Enlise believed from the bottom of her heart that Angell was her benefactor and a good Mage with vast knowledge, some corner of her heart still remembered that she had "known him for less than two months." That made her somewhat afraid of being alone with Angell outside the Workshop.

Unfortunately, Angell did not notice the little girl's delicate thoughts. He raised a hand, pulled her into his dark cloak, and obscured her vision with blackness.

"I'll leave the shop to you," Angell said to the Black Cat without looking back.

He pulled up his cloak's hood. His entire body seemed to... no, he directly transformed into a Black Shadow, melting into the shadows on the ground and vanishing in an instant.

Only the Black Cat remained before the empty shop, tapping the table with its tail.

"Come back early, meow!"

Enlise was released barely three seconds later.

But when she saw the scene before her clearly, she nearly crawled back into Angell's cloak.

This was...

The Orphanage?!

Enlise's eyes widened in terror.

Enlise had come here once when she was five.

That time, Magic Gear had also faced a bankruptcy crisis. The Workshop's former master, Boris, said that he could not afford to support so many people. After dismissing some workers, he brought Enlise and several children in the same circumstances here.

Enlise had stayed here for an entire week that time.

A week later, Boris returned.

Apparently, the Workshop had suddenly secured a sum of money and avoided bankruptcy. But Boris lacked workers, and since he thought the children sent to the Orphanage could still be useful, he took them back.

Yet Enlise was the only one Boris took back.

No one knew where the other children had gone.

Enlise did not remember what she had experienced in this Orphanage either.

All the Orphanage had left her with was endless nightmares.

In her nightmares, she wandered alone through the Orphanage. She remembered the location of every weed and every crack, yet could never find a way out. Only the deepest fear accompanied her.

Later, the Workshop's business inexplicably improved for a while. Boris even sent Enlise to the Charity School. Enlise gradually stopped thinking about what had happened during that time. Then the Workshop went bankrupt again. Perhaps because she feared being used to settle debts, Enlise began frequently dreaming of this Orphanage again, dreaming that she had been abandoned once more.

Of course, those were only dreams.

Enlise firmly believed that Angell was a good person and would not abandon her so easily.

Yet standing in the Orphanage, Enlise still grabbed the sleeve of the man who had brought her here with trembling fingers. Forcing back her tears, she asked pleadingly, "M-Mr. Angell, what... what did you bring me here for?"

"To recruit workers!" Angell looked at Enlise strangely as he answered.

"Recruit workers?" Enlise froze.

"Yes. The Workshop can't keep relying on you and Mithril to watch over it, can it? Even self-service needs attendants," Angell said with a headache. "Honestly, I should have hired people as soon as I came back, but I had no money then. Later, I had to make the games, so it got delayed until now." And after opening the Leaderboard, they seemed to need employees even more.

At this point, Angell seemed a little embarrassed.

He rubbed Enlise's hair. "Sorry for making you do so much."

Enlise hurriedly shook her head.

"It's fine, I'm willing!" As long as I'm not being abandoned, I'm willing to do anything!

However, the warmth from above her head calmed Enlise's chilled mind.

She confirmed that Angell had not meant what she feared he meant, and relaxed a little. But she could not help asking, "Why come to the Orphanage to recruit workers?"

"Orphanage? Isn't this the Adventurer's Guild?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Angell and Enlise stared at each other in bafflement for a while before finally realizing the source of the misunderstanding.

Angell had no choice but to turn toward the counter.

"This is the Adventurer's Guild, not the Orphanage, right?" he asked.

Only then did Enlise notice that someone was behind the counter.

She was an extremely beautiful woman, but her smile looked very stiff, as rigid as that of a wax figure. Her azure eyes in particular stared straight ahead, as though she was looking at people and yet at nothing at all.

The woman answered stiffly, "Yes, this was once the Adventurer's Guild."

She paused, then added, "We also provide Orphanage services part-time."

Enlise immediately hugged Angell's waist as if she had heard the voice of a nightmare.

Angell's body stiffened. He was not used to close contact with others, but seeing Enlise's pale face, he sighed inwardly. He rubbed her hair as if petting a cat and did not push her away.

Angell looked at the woman strangely. "Why would the Adventurer's Guild provide Orphanage services part-time?" It was the strangest side business he had ever heard of.

"It always has," the woman answered.

To explain that, one had to start with the history of the Adventurer's Guild.

Because this Plane bordered the Demon World Plane and was filled with spatial rifts, it had long been eroded by Demonic Energy from the Demon World, breeding a vast number of Monsters. To survive, many people chose combat professions and became adventurers, hunting Monsters.

The Adventurer's Guild had been organized so those warriors would have no worries behind them.

In the Magic Era, the Guild provided information on nearby Monsters, helped adventurers assess their levels, and issued suitable quests. This included carrying out adventurers' wills and, when necessary, taking in the children they left behind.

If Angell had to evaluate it, it was like an RPG game.

Thus, in the past, most recruitment could be entrusted to the Adventurer's Guild—or handled at the local tavern.

But that was all in the past.

After entering the Industrial Era, the army equipped itself with firearms and strengthened its control over local areas. The adventurer profession inevitably declined, and many Adventurer's Guilds disappeared. But Cecilia City was close to the Abyss of the Demon World. The army had clashed with Monsters several times, many people had died, and many orphans had been left behind. Therefore, The King decided to let the Adventurer's Guild here fulfill part of its original role by taking in those children.

"So the times have changed this much already?" Angell sighed.

Enlise quietly reminded him, "Mr. Angell, if you're recruiting now, you should go to the Career Agency."

Angell immediately stiffened in embarrassment.

As a transmigrator, being reminded by a native that "you should go to the Career Agency to recruit"... surely it was this world's fault, right?! Why had it suddenly changed from a fantasy RPG into an Arcade Hall simulation game?!

Fortunately, Angell's expressionless face did not reveal his embarrassment.

The Guild's hostess continued in that stiff voice, "We also provide job placement services, and our prices are lower than the Career Agency's."

"Oh?" Angell was clearly intrigued.

Enlise instinctively wanted to object.

She did not want to have anything to do with this place.

But Angell then asked, "Are the applicants you provide the children you have taken in?"

"Yes," the other party answered.

Enlise swallowed her objection.

She even reproached herself a little. Why was she being so selfish? Just because she was afraid of this place, did that mean the other children deserved to remain here? They must need work badly, right?!

"Hmph, doing a good deed and getting a discount too. Not a bad choice," Angell said. "Then let me register."

"Very well. What positions do you need to recruit for?"

At last, the Guild's hostess looked toward Angell and Enlise.

Enlise noticed that the woman's eyeballs moved, but the muscles in her face did not change in the slightest.

Enlise immediately buried her face in Angell's cloak.

She really was still terrified of this place!